Right at the end – teacher notes

Finally, remind students that ethical considerations are an integral part of their project and should be discussed in their report

Further work

This extension work could be carried out for homework. A key point is that such misconduct is regarded very seriously. Researchers found to have acted unethically often face the loss of their career and reputation.

A guide to research ethics in the social sciences produced by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Researcher Development Initiative and the University of London’s Institute of Education. There is a useful section on ‘Conducting your research’, which includes case studies illustrating how researchers dealt with unexpected problems during their fieldwork.

Related resources

This section makes the point that working ethically doesn’t end with the completion of an ethical checklist. Rather, students should be constantly alert to the ways in which they are working and ready to take action if things look like they are going wrong

Education levels:

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